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Seacom to bolster IP network

Bonnie Tubbs
By Bonnie Tubbs, ITWeb telecoms editor.
Johannesburg, 21 Nov 2013
Seacom CEO Mark Simpson says keeping content in Africa is a key focus of the company's 2014 strategy.
Seacom CEO Mark Simpson says keeping content in Africa is a key focus of the company's 2014 strategy.

Africa is not one country; it is a continent with many borders and, in order to bring content to the continent, significant investment needs to be ploughed into connecting Africa to Africa - as well as to the rest of the world.

This is according to Seacom CEO Mark Simpson, who says the privately-owned cable company will continue to invest and evolve from providing single fibre cables into becoming a fully-fledged network next year.

Simpson notes 2013 saw significant investment in the Seacom network, with the company this month launching a point-of-presence (PoP) in Cape Town in a bid to boost African connectivity, and says 2014 will see the company "renewing" its IP network in a rescaling exercise.

The Seacom IP network covers major centres across Africa's eastern edge and SA, with IP PoPs in SA, Mozambique, Tanzania and Kenya - as well as extensions across borders and into landlocked central countries. Simpson says this enables customers to bring international content closer to their users, deliver local content easily and improve the local Internet experience.

"A lot of the communications within Africa still go offshore and we need to improve on that." Next year, he says, the focus will be on bringing more content to Africa by building Seacom's African route for interconnecting and peering in Africa. Part of this will include a push for data centres, he says.

Simpson says Seacom's 2014 IP network plans also include new features, which will be driven by the demand for point to multi-point connectivity and video.

New markets

Seacom is also looking at expanding into nine more markets throughout Africa - a process that will include spreading the company's physical presence. "We will build out into the markets and expect this to include the west coast."

Having a presence is important in terms of building a market. [Seacom] needs to be present so it can touch the market throughout the value chain, all the way to the customer."

Simpson notes much of the company's investment this year was focused on SA. Next year, he says, the company will invest further afield on the continent. "While improving national connectivity is important, the spread of widely available and reliable broadband is just as critical today - for both business and social - as it was when Seacom landed [in 2009]."

He says GDP growth is what is needed - particularly when it comes to small enterprise.

"Seacom believes the next generation of voice, data and video is here, and believes we can collaborate with customers and suppliers to deliver a whole new experience to end-users."

The ICT industry moves at a rapid pace, says Simpson, and a lack of investment could mean dire consequences for companies operating in the realm. "If we don't invest the next $15 million or $20 million, we could get left behind - and we don't want our competitors catching up, never mind getting ahead."

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